Thursday, July 7, 2011

Short Film: Ollie Klublershturf vs. The Nazis

Before Lost made him one of Hollywood’s hottest writers, Damon Lindelof wrote a one-act play about a time-traveling kid reminiscent of the lead character from Meet the Robinsons and a group of Nazis intent on launching the Fourth Reich.

According to Script Shadow, “Ollie” is the one-act play Lindelof specifically wrote to try and impress Carlton Cuse. The story goes that Cuse was talking to Damon’s agent, and he asked the agent if there was anything he could read, and the agent gets back to him a few days later and says there’s a one-act play he can read. ... Cuse was impressed, stating that the pages “were funny and well-written.” So, that got Lindelof in the room with Cuse, and they immediately hit it off and the rest is presumably history. But, here’s the kicker, according to Cuse, “Little did I know that Damon wrote this original material for the purpose of the meeting.”

In 2010, Director Skot Bright turned that play into a short film staring Zach Mills of Super 8 as boy genius Ollie and a pre-Thor Chris Hemsworth as a Nazis. The results are unbelievably brilliant. Make certain you watch it all the way through to the punchline!